Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) FAQs

The Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) is a personalised retirement savings platform allowing individuals to accumulate funds for retirement in a tax-efficient manner. It offers the option to draw a living annuity income after reaching the age of 55 at which point you are able to take one-third of your savings as a lump-sum (this amount will be subject to tax) and the rest you may use to purchase an annuity which will pay you a monthly amount into retirement.

The plan is structured to provide protective measures, in accordance with legislation. This includes safeguards against creditors, insolvency estate inclusion, and exclusion from deceased estates under the Pension Fund’s Act.

Contributions made to the Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) are tax-deductible, thereby reducing an individual's taxable income and providing an avenue for tax-efficient retirement savings.

Earnings such as interest, dividends, and capital gains within the Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) are tax-free and automatically reinvested, ensuring continued potential growth of the investment.

The platform provides convenience through a single login, offering access to various accounts and investment types under one user-friendly interface.

SatrixNOW clients can activate their Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) by following these steps:

1. Log in to the SatrixNOW platform, which you can do by clicking here.

2. You will see an “Activate a new account type” option on the top bar, alongside your SatrixNOW and TFSA accounts. Click here and select to activate the “Retirement Plan (RA)”.

3. You will need to accept the T&Cs associated and specify beneficiaries.

• Amounts contributed to a pension, provident, and retirement annuity funds during a year of assessment are deductible by members of those funds for tax purposes.

• Amounts contributed by employers and taxed as fringe benefits are treated as contributions by the individual employee.

• The deduction is limited to 27.5% of the greater of remuneration for PAYE purposes or taxable income (both excluding retirement fund lump sums and severance benefits).

• Furthermore, the deduction is limited to a maximum of R350 000. Any contributions exceeding the limitations are carried forward to the immediately following year of assessment and are deemed to be contributed in that following year.

• The amounts carried forward are reduced by contributions set off against retirement fund lump sums and against retirement annuities.

• Unfortunately, there are no rollovers allowable on contribution limits. If you do not invest 27.5% of your Taxable Income per tax year, the limit does not rollover.

National Treasury has put limits on the amount you can claim as a tax deduction in a Retirement annuity account. The Annual Limit is 27.5% of your gross income to a maximum of R350 000 per tax year.

Legislation does not allow you to withdraw from your RA before you reach the age of 55.

There is one exception to that rule in that legislation allows you to take a cash withdrawal at any stage on the condition that the value of your account is less than R15,000.00 (fifteen thousand rand). Doing so, however, will result in your account being closed.

Once you’ve contributed you won’t have access to withdraw any amount prior to electing to receive a retirement benefit from the Satrix Retirement Plan (RA).

Investors have the flexibility to buy or sell units within the Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) but cannot withdraw funds until opting to receive retirement benefits.

The Pension Funds Act determines that on the death of a member that the benefit will be distributed to the deceased’s dependents.

To ensure that we maintain the Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) fund as a cost-effective vehicle, we want to ensure that on death it is easy to trace dependents and to ensure that the dependents can be paid out as soon as possible after the death of the account holder.

Proceeds from a Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) are excluded from an individual's estate, ensuring direct distribution to stipulated beneficiaries upon death as per the Pension Funds Act.

Funds deposited into the Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) take additional processing time, usually an extra business day, before being allocated to the account.

You can either contribute to the cash portion (or Available Funds) of your RA account (and then invest the funds later) OR you can contribute directly to the Investment of your choice. Both options allow you to select between Monthly, Quarterly, or Annual recurring contributions.

• Login to SatrixNOW and click on your Retirement Plan (RA account)

• Click “Invest Now” and select the fund you wish to purchase

• Choose your Investment Amount and select “Recurring”

• You can choose your debit order frequency, debit order date, and annual increase percentage.

Please note:

• You will need a verified bank account in order to set up a debit order.

• It is also possible for a family member or friend to set up a debit order into your SatrixNOW account.

• It is also possible for a family member or friend to set up a debit order into your SatrixNOW account.

The Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) gives you access to the underlying EasyEquities RA Fund, which is registered with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and the registration number allocated to the Fund by the FSCA is 12/8/38189.

The Fund is also registered with the South African Revenue Services to ensure that you may claim your contributions to the Fund at the end of each tax year.

The legislature has afforded pension benefits various protective safeguards in the Pension Fund’s Act.

• Pension benefits cannot be reduced, transferred, ceded, pledged, hypothecated, or considered to determine the debtor’s financial position for an amount exceeding R3,000. Essentially this means that your retirement annuity assets are protected from any and all creditors in excess of R3,000.

• Pension assets are deemed not to form part of the insolvent estate.

• Pension Benefits are deemed not to form part of the assets of the deceased estate.

• Regulation 28 places restrictions on the manner in which the RA fund’s assets may be invested which avoids abuse or misuse of the pension fund by persons dealing therewith.

The Satrix Retirement Plan fund is a legal entity in its own right and has no financial obligation to First World Trader (FWT).

The liquidation of FWT will not have a direct financial impact on the Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) Fund and the Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) Fund will not be listed as a creditor of FWT.

The Satrix Retirement Plan (RA) Fund will continue to operate as a retirement annuity fund in the event of the liquidation of FWT.

Transfers will be conducted under a nil tax directive so there will be no tax impact for the transfer. There is no cost for the transfer.

The transfer includes a change in the fund class, from B2 class currently, moving to A1 class on SatrixNOW. This means that we are unable to move your units. Glacier will sell your units and transfer the cash to SatrixNOW.

This means that you will be out of the market for a period of time. We will endeavour to minimise the time that you are in a cash position, but this will be between 7 days and 30 days. Once transferred, the cash will be deposited into your RA wallet, you will need to log in and select a fund or funds to invest your proceeds into.

Debit Orders:

Once you have registered your SatrixNOW Retirement Plan account, it is easy to set up a recurring investment via debit order.

• Login to SatrixNOW and click on your Retirement Annuity account

• Click “Invest Now” and select the fund you wish to purchase

• Choose your Investment Amount and select “Recurring”

• You can choose your debit order frequency, debit order date and annual increase percentage.

• Please note that you will need a verified bank account in order to set up a debit order – see here for more details. Alternately if a family member or friend wants to set up a debit order into your SatrixNOW account, see details here.

Lump Sum Investments:

Making a lump sum investment on SatrixNOW is simple:

• Login to SatrixNOW and click on your Retirement Annuity account

• In the top left Menu drop down, select “Deposits” under “My Funds”

• Select your funding option (check the associated costs) and deposit your lump sum. Make sure that you are transacting within the correct Retirement account and to use the correct Reference number.

• Once the funds have cleared and show in your “Funds to invest”, click “Invest Now” and select the fund you wish to purchase.

• Choose your Investment Amount and select “Once Off”, and confirm your investment.

Login to SatrixNOW and select “Statements and Certificates” from the home page. You can download the relevant documents in PDF format from there.